Talk:Wikimania project domain

Technical problems

1. Domain names cannot begin with numbers. While WP10 was being planned, it was suggested that the Ten-wiki be hosted at 10.wikipedia.org, rather than ten.wikipedia.org, to avoid clashing with language codes (there is indeed a language with code ten). The plan was abandoned because there are technical problems with Wikimedia domain names starting with a number. Unless the problem is resolved, the whole 2011.wikimania.org etc. plan can't be carried out. Deryck C. 18:47, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
   • It could very well be C20XX (Conference 20XX) until the 'C' part can be dropped. I am unsure this is a technical problem with subdomains. -- とある白い猫 ^chi? 19:39, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
   1. if a domain name can begin with numbers, can consist only of numbers etc. is dependant on the registry of the TLD. Some even changed their policies over time, while I could not get 80686.net in 1999 because it was not allowed, I got it in 2011, because it is now allowed.
   2. anyway we are talking about subdomains, where not TLD policies apply, just the simply RFC about URLs in general. 2013.wikimania.org is a valid URL. --Manuel Schneider^(bla) (+/-) 08:10, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
2. Is wikimania.org owned by WMF? See this whois entry. It is possible that wikimania.org is owned by a good-faith Wikimedian, rather than WMF, and technical problems may be involved in transferring the domain. Deryck C. 19:08, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
   • Proposal assumes the transfer can happen. Technical difficulties can always be overcome with time. Proposal does not expect the rename(s) to happen overnight. The idea is to gather consensus first. -- とある白い猫 ^chi? 19:39, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
     • Thanks for the question on my talk page. I don't know anything more about the domain than the Whois entry above has told me. I've sent an e-mail to wikimania-l about this, but didn't receive an answer. Deryck C. 11:55, 18 September 2011 (UTC)
       • it is owned by Wikimedia CH since 2013. I personally took the time to speak with the owner and get them into the domain portfolio of Wikimedia CH which I am maintaining. It took two phone calls and 200 EUR to get wikimania.org and wikimania.com within a week. --Manuel Schneider^(bla) (+/-) 08:10, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Change

Is this a proposed change just for the sake of a change? Looks quite unneeded. I don't see any reason to change it and I can't find any good reason to do so on the page. The proposer of this says that it would be more consistent, but it is already consistent and not random. -Barras 10:53, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

There are now three possible changes. The original proposal to use different names but still have a different wiki for each wikimania. The meta proposal to have a Wikimania space on meta with each year as a separate subproject; and a compromise proposal to have a Wikimania wiki with multiple projects. I have no preference between the renaming option and the status quo, but the fewer wikis we have the more open we are. In the absence of global watchlists it is a complete pain to have this needless proliferation of wikis and so yes there are good reasons for the options that reduce the number of wikis. There would be some minor cost in moving old wikis to being subprojects within meta so we could just do this for future Wikimanias. WereSpielChequers 14:31, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Minor cost?! The only wikis we've merged to Meta were very small and it's still been a painful process. I agree with Barras. --Nemo 18:45, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

It is actually no more than solving a non-existing problem. -Barras 18:56, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

I agree that we don't have a problem. However, I also agree this is a valid discussion about whether we can do things any better. Deryck C. 19:10, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

The problems include the multiplication of wikis each with separate watchlists, and in the case of Wikimania a process that starts on meta and then moves elsewhere. This overcomplicates things for everyone, wastes everyone's energy and raises barriers to participation by adding unnecessary complexity. WereSpielChequers 22:16, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

We could move the Wikimania process off Meta. For instance, wikimania2013.wikimedia.org would be started as a location-neutral wiki. The bidding would take place in a subpage of Wikimania:Bidding or whatever. The victors would then be able to mold the website in their image, and the whole Wikimania process from soup to nuts could be contained in one wiki. harej 19:26, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

That would be slightly better than the current system, but you'd still have different watchlists for different years of Wikimania as well as one for meta. If each Wikimania was a separate project within meta you'd completely avoid that. You could watchlist pages in the current Wikimania and the next one coming up and other pages on Meta all on one watchlist, along with the unlikely edit to a page you watchlist on the older years Wikimanias. I can't remember when I last checked my watchlist on the 2009 Wikimania, but if it was all on Meta there are a number of pages that would sit quietly on my watchlist. WereSpielChequers 16:54, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

Unified Wikimania wiki

I have cross-posted this over some related wikis and mailing lists, hopefully it would get some more attention:

Right now, we already have a dozen separate wikis for each past and future Wikimanias, and there's no doubt there'll be much more to come.

The idea here is to have a single Wikimania wiki (wikimania.wikimedia.org) for all conferences, instead of the current separate-wiki style (wikimania2012.wikimedia.org). This has been discussed at Meta:Wikimania project domain in 2011, but seems to have quickly ran outta gas.

Key issues addressed:

• Q1: Organizers (alone) of a current conference needs to have absolute control over the conference wiki (aka being an admin).
• A1: Wikimania wikis does not run as normal projects. Hence, all organizers shall easily be given admin rights (and former organizers removed) as it becomes necessary. The cycle continues.

• Q2: What about archiving past wikis? What if we need to look back?
• A2: Except for key pages (such as the Main Page), all other pages of each project could be created under the respective year's subpage. For example, all 2012 conference's pages would be under: http://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2012/page/page/etc. Additionally if necessary, any vital page requiring archiving could also be edit protected (cascading style too, if possible).

Please reply at the existing Meta proposal: Wikimania project domain.

--Rehman 12:55, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

Questions

Aren't these all the same Wikimedia MediaWiki version, and shouldn't the status quo be retained, as these are historical wikis? After all, no-one's yet proposed we close down the nostalgia.en.wikipedia have they? --Tholh4 (talk) 13:58, 25 October 2013 (UTC)

Proposals are more for future wikimania wikis, not the existing ones which are already closed. --MF-W 14:07, 25 October 2013 (UTC)